As part of the festivities, two Makushita sumo wrestlers from Tamanoi sumo stable (run by former Ozeki Tochiazuma) in Adachi gave sumo demonstrations and entertainment.

Sumo wrestler with kids at Toshi Nogyo Park in Adachi Ward, Tokyo.

Wrestling with kids amid cherry blossoms from America.

Train around the sumo ring.

One rascal kid is trying to undo the wrestler's mawashi.

This thin man challenged the sumotori.

He was lifted up and out.

Now a young woman enters the ring.

She is carried out. The wrestlers gave us lots of good laughs and entertainment.

The Tananoi Stable sumo wrestlers were Irie (left) and Sakaguchi. Very friendly. Thank you guys!

By late afternoon, most of the crowd had dissipated.

Green Park Santo was the site for the Ozumo Maibara Basho or Maibara Exhibition Sumo Tournament on Oct. 17, 2008. It was nice sunny day. Banners with the name of famous sumo wrestlers (rikishi) were up. グリーンパーク山東

Gate to the sumo arena. The gate opened at 8 am. The last exhibition sumo tournament held in Shiga was in 1999 in Nagahama Dome.

Tickets please. We all got a sumo booklet with pictures of all the wrestlers.

Arch to the sumo arena. 大相撲米原場所

Two sumo wrestlers near the gate greeted spectators. The sumo contingent's stop in Maibara was part of their autumn exhibition tour. The day before, they were in Noto, Ishikawa Pref.

Taiko drummer added atmosphere.

The sumo arena was under a large tent. The ground was covered by a blue, vinyl tarp.

Arena layout and ticket prices. The cheapest ticket was 4,000 yen and the most expensive near ringside was 14,000 yen.

Sumo souvenir shops and food stalls.

Sumo souvenirs

Zabuton cushions with "Maibara Basho" imprinted were also sold for 1100 yen.

Day's bouts.

Miyabiyama stands near the entrance gate to sign autographs.

Outside the tent arena was a grassy area where the rikishi warmed up. About 160 rikishi were in the tournament.

Push-ups

Mt. Ibuki in the background.

Baruto from Estonia and Tochinoshin from Georgia chat with each other (probably in Russian).

First the lower ranking Makushita wrestlers practiced on the ring.

Banners above written with "Maibara Basho" and "Full House." It actually wasn't sold out.

Later, the top division Makunouchi wrestlers started practice. They wear white mawashi belts.

Ozeki Kotomitsuki practicing.

One benefit of exhibition tournaments is that the rikishi are able to practice with different wrestlers from different stables.

Baruto practicing.

Kotooshu

Maibara basho zabuton cushions

Ozeki Chiyotaikai

Ozeki Chiyotaikai works out and gives a great photo op.

Ozeki Chiyotaikai works out.

Ozeki Chiyotaikai 大関千代大海

Ozeki Kotomitsuki signs autographs.

Ozeki Kotomitsuki 大関琴光喜

Baruto signs autographs. This is something we cannot do during official sumo tournaments.

Kisenosato signs autographs. He's quite popular with the ladies.

Finally, Yokozuna Hakuho appears. At first, his tsukebito attendants declined autographs. But when a lady following him asked for an autograph, he stopped and said okay.

Ama is the winner. In Nov. 2008, he was promoted to Ozeki and was renamed Harumafuji.

Kaio vs. Kotooshu

Kaio vs. Kotooshu

Hakuho vs. Kotomitsuki, the last bout of the day.

Hakuho vs. Kotomitsuki

Hakuho vs. Kotomitsuki

Hakuho won

Yumitorishiki 弓取式

After it ended, the wrestlers rode on these buses. The next stop was Kyoto. Their autumn exhibition tour lasting till Oct. 26 would then take them to Tokushima, Kochi, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi Prefectures.

Maibara Basho sumo booklet.

After throwing the beans, they clapped their hands.

After throwing beans the first session, the bean throwers started leaving. First the sumo wrrstlers, then the actresses/actors. Haruka Ayase is behind the wrestlers here.

After the ceremony which took about 20 min., they came out of the temple and took their places for bean throwing. This is Baruto.

Baruto and Haruka Ayase proceed to their places.

At left is Ayame Goriki, another actress, comes out of the temple.

Baruto at Naritasan Shinshoji for Setsubun on Feb. 3, 2013.

Baruto and Yokozuna Hakuho.

Grand sumo tournaments are held six times a year in Jan., March, May, July, Sept., and Nov. They are held at Ryogoku Kokugikan arena in Tokyo in Jan., May, and Sept. In March, it is in Osaka, July in Nagoya, and Nov. in Fukuoka. This is the Kokugikan.

Each tournament is 15 days long, and each wrestler in the top two divisions wrestle once a day. A wrestler must win at least 8 times during a tournament to get promoted. Otherwise, he is demoted in rank. The more he wins, the higher he is promoted.

There are about 800 sumo wrestlers, called rikishi, and they belong to one of six divisions. Each day of the tournament starts in the morning with the lower divisions as you see here. They are skinnier and wear drab-looking black mawashi.

The sumo matches have five judges (shinpan), dressed in formal black kimono, sitting on each of the four sides of the sumo ring. There is also a referee (gyoji) on the ring. This is former yokozuna Takanohana who has lost much weight and looks like a kid.

One colorful highlight each day during a tournament is the dohyo-iri ring-entering ceremony performed by rikishi in the top two divisions. These are rikishi in the second highest division called Juryo. 十両

Juryo wrestlers performing the ring-entering ceremony.

The wrestlers are divided into east and west, and both groups perform the dohyo-iri. They wear colorful ceremonial aprons called kesho mawashi made of silk. They can cost up to 500,000 yen.

You can see sumo for as cheap as 2100 yen. You can buy tickets at the box office where the tournament is held. The cheap tickets may sell out, so go early.

JUryo wrestlers continue to fight.

This is Hakurozan, who was arrested for drug use in 2008 and booted out of sumo along with his brother Roho.

On the first day of the tournament, the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association (shown here is Kitanoumi) and top rikishi go on the ring to convey greetings to the crowd.

The chairman of the Japan Sumo Association (shown here is Kitanoumi) greets the crowd and thanks everyone for coming.

Next we have the ring-entering ceremony by the top division wrestlers in the Makunouchi Division. Rikishi from the east side come down the aisle first. They are led by a referee.

They enter as wooden clappers are clapped by someone.

The colorful kesho mawashi are expensive to make, and each wrestler has a sponsor who donates an apron. The sponsor's name is usually on the bottom.

The higher ranking rikishi are at the end of the line. (Hakuho and Kotooshu here).

They make their way around the ring.

The sumo tournaments are broadcast live every day on TV by NHK, focusing on the Makunouchi Division matches.

After the last wrestler is on the ring, they all turn around and raise their arms.

Getting off the sumo ring.

Ozeki Kotooshu.

Ozeki Kotooshu with an apron by Bulgaria Yogurt. (Kotooshu is from Bulgaria.)

Next are rikishi from the west side.

Takamisakari is one of the more popular rikishi.

Unfortunately, there are people ignorant of sumo who think it is just nearly naked, fat men charging at each other. Famous American newspaper columnist Mike Royko once wrote one of the worse and most insulting pieces about sumo in his column.

During a sumo exhibition tour in the US, first lady Nancy Reagan rejected having the yokozuna ring-entering ceremony performed in the Rose Garden of the White House. It was performed at the State Department instead with Secretary George Schultz attending.

Fortunately, there are many people who do appreciate sumo, like former French president Jacques Chirac. (THe current French president has no interest in sumo.)

Wrestlers wait until everyone is on the ring. Notice that Takamisakari (second from the left) and the rikishi on the far right have almost the same aprons. They will serve as the sword bearer and dew sweeper for the yokozuna ring-entering ceremony.

Some of the designs on the aprons are quite beautiful. Some are also pretty much advertisements for the sponsor who could be a support group, fan club, company, or rich individual.

Roho's apron actually had little lights which flashed.

Hakuho, before he became yokozuna.

Baruto, from Estonia, at the center. He's well on his way to become Ozeki. There are many foreign sumo wrestlers. Unfortunately, there are none from Hawaii. Mostly Europeans and Mongolians.

Right after the Makunouchi dohyo-iri is the Yokozuna Dohyo-iri. This is Yokozuna Asashoryu. A major highlight during the tournament.

The yokozuna is flanked by two attendants, a sword bearer on the left and dew sweeper on the right. Their kesho mawashi ceremonial aprons are a matching set.

He claps his hands to get the attention of the gods. 横綱土俵入り

He extends his arms to show that he conceals no weapons. I'm not too crazy about the way Asashoryu does the dohyo-iri though. A few little details make it less dignified.

Then he steps forward and turns to the front.

He claps his hands and stomps his foot.

He stomps the ground to drive away evil.

Asashoryu performing the yokozuna dohyo-iri or ring-entering ceremony. There are two styles of the yokozuna dohyo-iri. One is the Unryu style which Asashoryu performs. One hand is on his hip as he rises here. 雲龍型

The ring-entering ceremony starts at around 4 pm. The yokozuna's rope belt and zig-zag paper streamers look very similar to the sacred rope found at Shinto shrines.

He turns around and goes back to his place. You can see that his rope belt is tied with a single loop on the back. This is the Unryu style. It differs from the Shiranui style performed by Hakuho.

Claps his hands for the last time. The man in purple is the referee.

The two rikishi who escort him are either from his own sumo stable or an affiliate sumo stable.

The yokozuna dohyo-iri ends. It is performed every day during the 15-day tournament as well as at exhibition tournaments.

Side view of Asashoryu's dohyo-iri. Looks like we'll have to wait a lot longer to ever see another Japanese yokozuna. No one is even on the horizon as of this writing. The next yokozuna might as well be another foreigner (Baruto perhaps).